A Houston woman accused of failing to seek medical treatment for her teenage daughter's lupus is in jail, charged with injury to a child by omission.

Tina Renae Carr was arrested Friday in connection with an April 16 incident in which paramedics found her daughter lying on a pallet at their southeast Houston apartment.

The 14-year-old girl was suffering from malnutrition and dizziness, and was covered with what were thought to be cigarette burns, according to the arrest warrant filed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Carr, 46, had barricaded the door with a refrigerator and refused to open it for police and ambulance personnel, the complaint stated.

Once the responders forced their way in, they found the girl incoherent.

The teen was treated at Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she was diagnosed with lupus cere­britis, a brain inflammation associated with systemic lupus, an auto-immune disorder.

According to the warrant, the doctor who made the diagnosis said the girl's symptoms would have progressed over months, but the mother had taken her daughter to a doctor only on April 4.

The doctor who saw the girl at that time advised the mother to take her to the hospital, but Carr refused and signed a document stating that she would not "against medical advice," according to the arrest warrant. Another doctor who saw the girl said Carr's refusal was "life-threatening," the warrant stated.

Paramedics were called to the apartment after the daughter ran to the front office, asking for help and saying her mother was trying to hurt her. Carr then arrived in the office and began to "tussle" with her daughter, dragging her back to the apartment, records state.

The apartment manager told police the girl screamed and tried to get away from her mother, according to the warrant.